Box-blank machine.



J. H. GREENSTREET.

BOX BLANK MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED DEC. 4. 1913.

mma awm Patented July 6, 1915.

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J. H. GREENSTREET. BOX BLANK MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED DEC- 4, I913- 11%5 83% Patented July 6, 1915.

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J. H. GREENSTREET.

BOX BLANK MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED DEC. 4. 1913.

LM5,83% Patented July 6, 1915.

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J. H.' GREENSTREET.

BOX BLANK MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED mac. 4. 19:3.

ATTORNEY COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH CO WASHINGTON, D- C.

Patent ed July 6, 1915.

'NIT TAT FA r rribn.

JASON H. GREENSTREET, 0F INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO FLORA V.GREENSTREET, 0F INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

BOX-BLANK MACHINE.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 4, 1913. Serial No. 804,581.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JASON H. Gnnnivs'rnnn'r,a citizen of the United States, res ding at Indianapolis, in thecountyof Marlon and State of Indiana, have invented a new and usefulBox-Blank Machine, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to produce a machine for the production ofbox blanks consisting of cleats and sheet material stapled together, theconstruction being such that a considerable number of staples may bedriven simultaneously into the blank, the form of the machine shown inthe drawings being such that as many staples are dr ven in a singleoperation as are to be found in a completed blank.

The accompanying drawings illustrate my invention.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the complete machine from the powerside; Fig. 2 a plan; Fig. 3 a vertical section on l1ne 33 of Fig. i;Fig. 4: a section of the parts shown in Fig. 3, on line l4= of Fig. 3;Fig. 5 a section, on a larger scale, on line 55 of Fig. 2; Fig. 6 afragmentary plan o f the adjustable mounting for the cleat pos1t1oners;Fig. 7 a fragmentary plan of one of the cleat holders; Fig. 8 anelevation of the parts shown in Fig. 7; Fig. 9 an enlarged detail of theadjustable connection between the carrying chain and one of the cleatholders; Fig. 10 a fragmentary elevation on line 10-10 of Fig. 3 of theblank positioning stops and the mechanism for withdrawing the same; Fig.11 a fragmentary detail on an enlarged scale of the pusher by means ofwhich the carrying chain is fed through the machine; Fig. 12 a sectionon line 1212 of Fig. 3; and Fig. 13 a plan of one form of box blankproducible in the machine, said blank being shown in the condition inwhich it is just before the final stapling operation upon it.

In the drawings, 20 indicates the main frame of the machine providedwith a work table, anvil, or set of anvils, 21 across which the boxmaterial will be fed and over which is arranged the stapling mechanismor other suitable means for eiiecting a connection between the sheets,cleats and binding wires or binding members. The stapling mechanism,which is the connection-eifecting means most commonly employed in thisart, comprises a plurality of staple-forming and driving devices Swhich, in practice, are of necessity of such strength and dimension asto automatlcally form and drive a wlre staple of sufficient strength tohold the materials of the box blank together, and in practice it hasheretofore been found that each of said heads occupies a space exceedingthree inches in width and inthe production of box blanks it is foundthat in most instances it is desirable, for strength, to have thestaples not more than three inches apart. As a consequence, I providetwo carrying heads 22 and 23 upon which the main bodies of thestapleformingrand-driving devices S are mounted, in a common manner, soas to be longitudinally adjustable upon the carrying head 22 or 23, thearrangement being such that, by staggering the devices S carried by thebar or head 22, relative to the devices S'carried by the bar or head 23,any desired spacing of the staples in the finished blank may beobtained. The two heads 22 and 23 are vertically stationary and the head22 is conveniently horizontally stationary while the head 23 ishorizontally slidable in guideways 24: and held in adjusted relationshipto the head 22 by means of the adjusting screws A, A connected bysprocket chain B. The staple driving members of the devices S arevertically reciprocable members which are carried by verticallyreciprocating heads 22 and 23, respectively, associated with the heads22 and 23 in the well known manner and as the details of construction ofthese staple-forming-and-driving devices S are well known and in commonuse, no attempt has been made to indicate the same except in a mostgeneral way. The two reciprocating heads 22 and 23 are carried at theirends in vertically reciprocating cross heads 25, 25 each of which isprovided with a horizontal slot or guideway 26 in which the head 23 mayshift longitudinally so as to at all times lie vertically above itscompanion cross head 23, the position of which is determined by theadjustment of screws A.

The cross heads 25, 25 are reciprocated by pitmen 27, 27 which in turnare connected to the usual eccentrics carried by the main drive shaft28. Running across the work table 21, transversely of the staplingplanes, is a feed chain comprising two endless chain belts 31, 31 andconnecting cross bars 32, which cross bars are upwardly presentedchannels which form cleat holders. In or- Patented July e, ieie.

der that the cleat holders 32 may be adjusted relatively to each otherto any desired spacing, each link of the belts 31 is pro vided with avertically arranged plate 33, parallel with the chain plane, which plateis provided with a plurality of holes 34. Each cleat holder at eachendis then provided with a head 35 which is an inverted U and the dependingarms of this head are perforated with holes 36 which are so spaced thatonly one of these holes can be brought into registry, at any one time,with the holes 34, but such that any one of the holes 36 may be broughtinto registry With some one of the holes 34, thus providing for manypositions of adjustment of the head 35 within the range of adjustment. Apin 37 is provided for insertion into the registering holes 36-34 andthis pin is held in place by a latch bar 38 pivoted at 39 upon the head35 and engaging the lock pin 40.

The length of each cleat holder32 is slightly in eXcessof the length ofthe longest box blank to be produced by the machine and at its middleeach cleat guide is preferably provided with a fixed cleat spacer 41. Ateach side of the'cleat spacer 41 I provide a movable spacer 42 which isconveniently carried by a plate 43 slidably mounted upon the cleatholder 32 by a pin-and-slot connection 43 and normally urged away fromthe spacer 41by a spring 44. The plate 43 is provided with a pluralityof holes 45 extendingralong its length for the reception of a pin orscrew 46 by means of which the spacer 42 is held upon the plate in anydesired position of its length so that any desiredgeneral relationshipbetween the fixed spacer 41 and the movable spacer 42 may be arranged soas to accommodate a cleat 47 ofany desired length between the twospacers 41 and 42 and another cleat 47 of any desired length beyond thespacer 42. As a general rule, box blanks are made for foursided. boxesand consequently as a general rule there will be one fixed spacer 41 andtwo movable spacers 42 in each cleat holder.

The feed chain, comprising the chains 31 and the cleat holders 32, isintermittently advanced through the machine a distance equal to thespace between two cleat holders, by any suitable means, that shown inthe present drawings comprising I'GCIPI'O: eating pawl carriers 50 eachcarrying a vertically swinging pawl 51 which is adapted to move freelybeneath the cleat holder and, coming upbehind it, engage the holder todrive it forwardly toward the stapling plane. The pawl carriers 50 arereciprocated by levers 52 which in turn are reciprocated by pitmen 53adjustably connected to the levers at 54 and driven by a suitableeccentric 55 carried by the main drive.

shaft 28, the eccentrics 55 being timed with relation to the eccentricswhich drive the pitmen 27 so that'a forward movement of the feed chainswill begin immediately upon the beginning of upward movement of theheads 22 and 23. The feed chain is ex tended for a considerable distanceupon the initial side of the machine, as shown at the left of Fig. 1,and operators standing at each side of the initial end of the machinewill place cleats 47 in the cleat holders as they arrive, the spacers 42being sufliciently spaced from the spacer 41 to permit the readyinsertion of the cleats in proper sequence, and, as the chain is drivenforwardly through the machine, the outer ends of the outer cleats willcome into engagement with inclined guides 56 which are extended to thefirst stapling plane where they are conveniently carried by the outerstapling devices S, as indicated in Fig. 2, the arrangement being suchthat, by-the time any cleat holder has reached this stapling plane, thecleats within that cleat holder have been shoved endwise by the guides56, 56 so as to be properly spaced from each other. As each cleat holderarrives at the stapling plane, its position is determined by stop pins57, 57 which project up through the work table 21 in proper relationshipto the first set of stapling devices S, S carried by the head 22 so thatthe cleats within the cleat holder will lie immediately beneath the vstaple driving mechanism as is clearly indicated in Fig. 3. By this timean operator (or perhaps two operators, one upon each side of themachine)has placed the sheet material 58 upon the cleats carried by two adjacentcleat holders and the staple driving mechanism carried by the cross head22 thereupon acts upon the material to drive one set of staples s asindicated in the up per part of Fig. 13. Thereupon the material isadvanced through the machine another step so as to bring the first cleatholder beneath the stapling mechanism carried by the cross head 23, thisforward movement of the feed chains being permitted by a withdrawal ofthe stop pins 57, which withdrawal is accomplished by means of thefingers 59, 59 carried by the head 25 and engaging the spring controlledlevers 6060 (Fig. 10) which are connected to the pins 57.

hen the material has been again advanced in the machine the staplingmechanisms carried by the cross head 23 will drive a set of staples .9into the cleats which have previously received staples from themechanism carried by the head 22 and the stapling mechanisms carried bythe head 22 will at the same time be driving a set of staples s in tothe succeeding set of cleats. hen the machine has been once started, itwill be noted that as many staples are driven at each operation of themachine as are necessary for a completed blank and the capacity of themachine is, therefore, a completed blank for each two reciprocations ofthe machine. In the production of box blanks with this machine, thesheet material 58 is, of course, co-extensive with the blank either inthe form of flexible sheet material such as strawboard or in the form ofseparate sections previously connected by some sort of flexibleconnecting members, such as hinges, binding wires, etc.

A number of machines have heretofore been produced for connecting cleatand sheet material by staples but, so far as I am aware, such machineshave always embodied means for movement of the cleats relative to thestapling mechanism lengthwise of the cleat series so that a singlestaple-forming-and-driving mechanism foreach row of cleats was all thatcould be provided and as many reciprocations of thestaple-forming-and-driving mechanisms were required as the number ofstaples in any longitudinal series of cleats. In view of the fact thatreciprocation of the staple-forming-anddriving mechanisms now commonlyin use in the art cannot be made with too great rapidity, because of theinertia of the box material and its feeding mechanism, it is evidentthat the prior machines have been limited in capacity because of thetime required in the driving of the staples. My present machine isradically differentiated from such prior machines, therefore, by thefact that the cleats,instead of being fed lengthwise through the machineare fed cross-wise through the machine and by such means it becomespossible to drive, at a single reciprocation of thestaple-formingand-driving mechanisms, all of the staples required for asingle blank.

Of course it will be readily understood that where the staples need notbe closer together than the distance between the arrangement of thestaple-forming-and-driving means S upon any one cross head, the entireblank may be placed initially beneath. both sets of stapling mechanismsand all of the staples driven in a single blank at one operation, andthe feeding mechanism then moved to bring the next blank into fullstapling position. This arrangement would double the output of themachine.

The cleats may, at times, stick in the carriers as they are withdrawnfrom the working plane and I therefore mount several spring fingers 65at the discharge end of the table 21 so arranged that, as each carrier32 is drawn beyond the fingers, said fingers will lift the cleats fromthe carrier.

While I have many times referred to staple-forming-and-drivingmechanisms, it will be readily understood that any desired mechanism maybe utilized for establishing a connection between the cleats and sheetmaterial.

Iclaim as my invention:

1. In a box blank forming machine, the combination of two sets of meansfor driving a plurality of staples, the two sets spaced apart a distancecorresponding to the lateral spacing of the cleats in a finished blankand the staple-driving means of one set laterally staggered relativelyto those of the other set, and means for presenting to each of saidstaple driving means the same succession of cleats and associated sheetmaterial by a relative movement between the cleats. and staple drivingmeans in a direction transverse to the cleats.

2. In a box blank forming machine, the combination of two sets of meansfor efiecting a connection between cleats and sheet material of a boxblank, the two sets spaced apart a distance corresponding to the lateralspacing of the cleats in a finished blank and the connection-effectingmeans of one set laterally staggered relatively to those of the otherset, and means for presenting to each of said connectiomeflecting meansthe same succession of cleats and associated sheet material by arelative movement between the cleats and connection-effecting means in adirection transverse to the cleats.

3. In a box blank forming machine, the combination of two series ofstaple-driving mechanisms spaced apart a distance corresponding to thelateral spacing of the cleats in the desired box blank, an endless feedchain comprising transverse cleat holders each constructed and arrangedto receive a series of cleats forming a longitudinal series for thedesired box blank, cleat spacing members carried by each of said cleatholders and comprising a spacing member longitudinally movable in itscleat holder, means for automatically compacting the cleats and spacerswithin each cleat holder, and means for driving the feed chains throughthe stapling plane in coordination with the staple-driving mechanisms.

4:. In a box blank forming machine, the combination of a series ofstaple-driving mechanisms, an endless feed chain comprising transversecleat holders, each constructed and arranged to receive a series ofcleats forming a longitudinal series for the desired box blank, cleatspacing members carried by each of said cleat holders and comprising aspacing member longitudinally movable in its cleat holder, means forautomatically compacting the cleats and spacers within each cleatholder, and means for driving the feed chain through the stapling planein coordination with the staple-driving mechanisms.

5. In a box blank forming machine, the combination of two series ofstaple driving mechanisms spaced apart a distance corresponding to thelateral spacing of the cleats in the desired box blank, an endless feedchain comprising transverse cleat holders each constructed and arrangedto receive a series of cleats forming a longitudinal series for thedesired box blank, and means for driving the feed chain through thestapling plane in coordination with the staple-driving mechanisms. I

-6. In a box blank forming machine, the

combination of two series of staple-driving mechanisms spaced apartadistance corresponding to the lateral spacing of the cleats in thedesired box blank, an endless feed chain comprising transverse cleatholders, each constructed and arranged to receive a series of cleatsforming a longitudinal series for the desired box blank, cleatspacingseries of cleats for a desired box blank, said cleat holdercomprising a plurality of cleat spacers, one of said cleat spacersbeingmovable lengthwise of its holder and relatively to another spacer,means for normally moving said movable spacer away from its companionspacer, and means for automatically compacting the cleats and spacerswithin the holder.

8. In a machine of the class described, a cleat holder for receiving andholding a series of cleats for forming a longitudinal series of cleatsfor a desired box blank, said cleat holder comprising a plurality ofcleat spacers, one of said cleat spacers being movable lengthwise of itsholder and relatively to another spacer, and means for normally movingsaid movable spacer away from its companion spacer.

9. In a machine of the class described, a cleat holder for receiving andholding a series of cleats for forming a longitudinal series of cleatsfor a desired box blank, said cleat holder comprising a plurality ofcleat spacers, one of said cleat spacers being movable lengthwise of itsholder and relatively to another spacer, and means for automaticallycompacting the cleats and spacers within the holder.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Indianapolis,Indiana, this 29th day of November, A. D. one thousand nine hundred andthirteen.

JASON H. GREENSTREET. lVitnesses:

ARTHUR M. Hoon, FRANK A. FAHLE.

Copies of this patent maybe obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

, I Washington, D. G.

